We want you to be safe this Halloween. Well, we want you to be safe always, which is why we excluded some scary ingredients from our natural hair care products and chose to include safe and effective ones like sunflower and camelina seed oil. We know it’s tough to navigate through the corn maze of today’s beauty industry when the word ‘natural’ holds little to no weight and you basically have to be a chemist to find safe products. So we decided to do a little expose on our free-from promises. No cat whiskers or witch hats, just the honest truth about our products with a few Halloween puns thrown in, because can we really pass up this opportunity?
No Petrifying Parabens
No one wants fungus or bacteria growing in their beauty products even on Halloween, which is why beauty companies started using synthetic preservatives known as parabens to expand shelf life and quality. But, yikes, these compounds are rapidly absorbed into the skin and have been shown over the years to potentially do more harm than good. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says trace amounts in products are safe, supplemental studies show that parabens can build up in our body over time. The Environmental Working Group reports this build-up can trigger an estrogen-like response throwing off our delicate endocrine system leading more serious conditions. We took this to heart and instead found a food grade preservative that ranks low on EWG to keep our products, like our Everyday Shampoo, safe and fresh.
No Scary Sulfates
That traditional soapy suds you get in the shower is thanks to sulfates (same with the bubbles of laundry detergent and household cleaning products). But you won’t notice an extravagant lather from our shampoo. Here’s why: you may have heard about sodium laurel sulfate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), two ingredients getting bad press in personal beauty products for good reason. With amounts starting at 1%, they have been shown to cause skin and eye irritation in animals. The FDA deems these sulfates safe because they only make short contact with skin and then get rinsed off. But for those of us with acne, eczema, or psoriasis it may be smart to steer clear because these compounds have only been tested on animals, which brings us to another scary truth. But by choosing products that are free from SLS and SLES you’re likely supporting a brand, like ours, that does not test on animals.
No Frightening Fragrances
Okay, this may be the spookiest haunted house of all—the terms ‘fragrance’ and ‘parfume’ listed on beauty products are industry catch-alls for around 3,059 chemicals, some of which have been linked to serious health effects. The FDA doesn’t currently require companies to disclose this information as a way to protect signature scents. Though some companies use it as a loophole to stuff products with synthetic chemicals that smell good. Unfortunately, it also prevents safe consumers from knowing exactly what they’re putting on their body. We told you, scary! So while you’ll see ‘fragrance’ listed on our products, you will also see a little invite to visit our website to see our list of 100% natural fragrance ingredients. Our signature scent isn’t hidden behind any crickety doors.